Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - Believers of Conviction
by Hobbes22
Summary: A boy wakes up to find himself in the body of a Zorua. That's not the biggest of his troubles, though. Things are just getting started.
1. Chapter 1

I'm not the best author in the world but I try. Thanks to Tanon for inspiring me to write.

If this combination of Pokémon has been done before, I'm not copying. These characters are some that I've thought up on my own.

* * *

What was it, the tenth time this week? The tenth time getting chased. The tenth time people scream at her. The tenth time people yelling "Get her! After her!" and the tenth time she had to run.

She wasn't running as fast as she could, oh no. She could run way faster. But no matter the speed, if you keep running for a while, eventually your feet start to hurt. Then your legs, then your body, then your face, then your ears, then your fur, then your-

"We're getting closer! She's slowing down!"

She decided to pull off the oldest trick in the book. She quickly darted into a nearby bush and shot a flame off in the same direction she darted in, causing a viewer to think she went in the opposite direction. It wouldn't have worked if it wasn't night time.

"Watch out for her flamethrower! I think she went to the right!"

"_Idiots" _she thought.

Looking back to make sure the Pokémon that were behind her were gone, she trudged forward. She needed to get out of the place.

The Vulpix was definitely not happy with how things were going. She didn't think of herself as a criminal, but clearly everyone and their mother seemed to think so. The good thing was that any mission to catch her was put in a rank "D", sometimes "C," which meant only the weaker teams would come after her. Not that she herself was anything special. If a competent team were to come get her, they would probably succeed, which scared her.

As she trotted through Pinespeak Forest, her feet started to pain her. It wasn't often that any part of her body would get sore after a chase, but the team that had tried to catch her this time was surprisingly determined. What were they, a Raichu and a Breloom? Something like that.

As she continued through the forest, getting closer and closer to the exit, she found a tree that was perfect to rest on.

"Might as well," she told herself. "It's not like they're going to look through every tree of this darn place."

As she rested against the tree, her eyes quickly shut, as she fell asleep.

* * *

As the Vulpix woke up, she heard a sound coming from the other side of the tree. Not just any sound, but a moan. A quiet, weak moan.

Her first response was to prepare herself for an attack, until she realized that the thing making the noise was half unconscious.

She slowly crept around the tree which she had slept under to find an unconscious Pokémon laying down in the grass.

A Zorua to be specific. It wasn't every day she saw one of those.

The Zorua didn't appear to be wild. It was pretty easy to tell if a Pokémon was wild in a forest like the one she was in, and this Zorua had none of the features. It was clean, for one thing.

"I can just leave you as you are," she thought aloud, "or I can do this."

The Vulpix jabbed the Zorua between his legs, a common pressure point for quadruped Pokémon. She knew it as she too had a pressure point there. The Zorua didn't stir at all.

She decided for the vocal approach.

"Hello? Are you alright?" she asked while nudging it. She couldn't tell what gender it was as she wasn't exactly familiar with Zoruas. It was actually her first time seeing one in person. "Get up!" she nudged again.

This time, the Zorua stirred. It opened its eyes, slowly at first, while it got a good look at the Vulpix sitting in front of it. That was all it needed to fully get up.

"What the heck? You're the hugest Vulpix I've ever seen!" Taken aback by the comment, the Vulpix stepped backwards. She noticed that the Zorua was male.

"What are you talking about, Zorua? I'm pretty average sized if I do say so myself."

The Zorua looked confused at first, until he looked at his own body.

"What the hell! I have black fur! And a tail! This isn't right!"

The Vulpix came to a conclusion.

"_This guy is crazy. I should probably just leave him and go…"_

As if to confirm, the Zorua made another claim – "I'm not a Zorua, I'm a human! A human with skin and clothes, not… black fur and a tail! Though I guess to a Pokémon this would sound crazy. If I were a human and another human came and told me they used to be a Pokémon I'd think they were crazy."

The Vulpix wasn't sure what to think of this. This little 'speech' showed that maybe the Zorua wasn't exactly crazy, but strange. It was kind of hard to believe that a Human could just turn into a Pokémon.

"Alright," she asked. "What's your name?"

"Uhhhhh…I think it's Zion."

"_What kind of name is that?_" she thought.

"What's yours?" Zion asked.

"Well I didn't say I would tell you mine!"

Zion's ears drooped almost instinctively as he seemed disappointed by this.

"So you still don't believe me?"

The Vulpix sighed. "Of course not."

* * *

Zion wasn't in the best of moods.

First off, he had to relearn how to walk; walking on four legs was almost impossible until he finally figured out the pattern. He still occasionally tripped though.

Secondly, the Vulpix that woke him up wouldn't tell him her name! She was nice enough to explain where they were and where she was taking him, though. Not that she was taking him anywhere at all. In fact, they were apparently just going to "go in whichever direction I feel like."

Thirdly, he couldn't remember anything. Well, aside from his name and general information about human society, that is. He couldn't remember any specific facts about himself or who he was. When he explained this to the Vulpix, he could tell it only bolstered the fact that she didn't believe him, as he could tell she thought the amnesia was just a dumb excuse as part of some trick he was trying to play on her.

She sure is paranoid.

They had finally exited the strange forest they were in (Pinespeak, was it?) and found a nice place to take a break.

"Alright," Zion said, "can you tell me your name now? I can't just not know if you're going to let me hang out with you for a bit…"

The Vulpix seemed to already have a planned response. "Who said you're coming with me anywhere? I led you out of the forest, and now you're on your own kiddo."

"Kiddo? I'm about the same age as you! At least I think am. It's kind of hard to tell."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever. Like I said, I don't want to have to deal with you anymore, so leave me alone. I helped you, and that's that."

"I told you, I have amnesia; I also have no idea where anything is in this world of yours! I'd get lost really fast…"

The Vulpix sighed, and Zion could tell he was getting somewhere.

"No."

Never mind then.

Suddenly, the two foxes heard a noise coming from the entrance of the forrest.

"That Vulpix is soooooo annoying to try and catch! Why can't any of the other teams do it?"

The voice was male, and quite frankly really loud. Zion noticed that Vulpix's ears perked at the sound. He also noticed that she got into a bit of a defensive position. As if to confirm, she spoke. "Alright, I'm not messing around anymore," she said. "Leave."

Zion was confused. Was the voice talking about this particular Vulpix?

"Pika, dude! I think she's right over there! And there's some weird black fox thing next to her!"

"Sap, that's a Zorua, idiot! It might be her accomplice or something."

Accomplice? What? Who was talking, anyway?

Eventually he saw; it was a Raichu and a Breloom. He assumed the Raichu was 'Pika' and the Breloom was 'Sap'.

"Vulpix," Zion started, "what do they mean by accomplice?"

Instead of answering the question, the Vulpix gave a different response. "I thought I lost these idiots backs in the forest, but of course they would follow me out here. Zion, you need to leave me, right now, before they think you're with me."

Zion was about to ask her if he really wasn't travelling with her before the Raichu launched a powerful electric bolt straight at him and the Vulpix. While it didn't make direct contact with either, he could feel the voltage on his fur.

Why were these Pokémon attacking him for no reason?!

"Hey! What's your problem!" he shouted at them.

"Shut up!" the Breloom rudely countered. "You know damn well why we're after you! Pika, let's get 'em!"

Zion took a step back. After this was over, he and the Vulpix needed to have a talk. Assuming they weren't captured by these two Pokémon.

The Raichu let another thunderbolt loose, this one coming even close then the last. It only took one more thunderbolt before Zion finally mustered the strength to jump to the right. This Pokémon body was really hard to get used to…It's a good thing he at least figured out how to run before this fight!

Vulpix looked really mad, both at Zion and the Raichu and Breloom. She launched a surprisingly powerful fire breath attack straight at the Breloom, who took it straight on. Zion could tell she wasn't doing very well In the two versus one fight, however.

"Ow! You'll pay for that!" To make his point, the Breloom launched a weird seed at Vulpix, which blew up upon impact.

"Ugh, I hate Seed Bomb! It's the same stupid move you did last time," Vulpix said. Last time? These Pokémon had fought with Vulpix before?

"Yeah, because it works all the time! You aren't getting away this time!"

Zion crept further and further away from the fight. He knew he couldn't just do nothing, however. What could he do? He didn't know how to use any attack!

"_How am I supposed to help Vulpix," _He thought to himself. "_Maybe if I can help her she'll help me out instead of leaving me on my own." _He couldn't exactly fight like a Pokémon, but maybe there was a trick that was universal between both Pokémon and Human. But what?

After some thought, Zion figured it out.

"_Heh, this'll be perfect,_" he thought, a bit more mischievously than normal with a sly grin filling his face.

As the Raichu shot another Thunderbolt at Vulpix, it was almost as if he forgot that Zion was there in the first place, which ended up being really convenient. While everyone was fighting, Zion managed to slip behind the Raichu and Breloom.

The Breloom launched a couple spores at Vulpix, who managed to jump out of the way.

"My next one won't miss," he bragged, as he prepared himself to launch another. Now was the time.

"Sap, you stink," Zion said, in his best imitation of the Raichu. It wasn't hard, since the Raichu's voice was pretty deep.

"What did you just say, Pika?" Sap asked, getting a mad expression on his face, while cancelling his Spore attack. "You know I don't like how I smell either; I thought we already agreed you wouldn't rub it in anymore!"

Perfect.

"What? I didn't say anything!" Pika tried to retort. Sap seemed to buy it, turning around to face Vulpix again.

"Where was I? Oh right! You're going down!" Sap's fists turned green as he readied himself to use a powerful Needle Arm attack, before he heard the "voice" of Pika once more.

"Sap, you smell like rotten mushrooms!" Zion tried once more. This time, it sealed the deal.

"Alright that's it! Come here you little punk!" Sap angrily said, turning his fist onto his partner.

"How stupid can you be," Pika said. "I didn't say anything! But if it's a fight you want…"

Completely forgetting about the mission at hand, the two got into a bit of a sparring match. Vulpix, whose mouth was agape at the scene in front of her, was quick to flee. Not before calling Zion to follow her, however.

After they were sure they had gotten far enough away from the Raichu and Breloom, Zion couldn't help but laugh.

"That stupid Breloom fell for that one so hard! I bet they completely forgot I was there after they started to focus on you!"

The Vulpix seemed to give a smile of her own, though only briefly.

"Alright," she started. "That was pretty clever. I guess you're not as crazy as I thought."

"Does this mean you believe that I used to be human?"

"No."

"Oh."

After a bit of a pause, the Vulpix was the first to break the silence. "You can come with me…I guess I can trust you after that."

Zion perked up. "Really? Awesome!"

"I'm regretting this already."

"Sorry, sorry. I'm easily excitable."

"You think I haven't noticed?"

Another pause. This time it was Zion who broke the silence.

"Alright, now can you tell me your name?"

"No."

Zion sighed. "Alright…"

Yet another pause. This was getting really awkward.

"Flaira." Vulpix had spoken out of the blue.

"What?" Zion asked.

"You asked for my name didn't you? It's Flaira. Or just Flaire."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier? It's a nice name. Flaire."

The Vulpix, or Flaire as she was now known, let out a forced chuckle. "It was funny seeing you get mad over something as simple as a name."

Zion had nothing to say to that. He knew for sure that wasn't the reason. He decided not to press on with it. Maybe he'd figure out eventually?

"Where did you say we were going again?" Zion asked. He remembered what Flaire had told him earlier, but he wanted to see if she would change her answer.

"Uh, I guess a good place to go would be Roild River. It's not too far away, and there's something I want to see there."

Zion wasn't done asking questions just yet. "What did they mean when they said I was maybe your accomplice?"

Flaira didn't look like she wanted to answer this question, and gave no response. Back to the awkward silence then.

* * *

**Writing's way harder than it looks, but it's fun! Review if you'd like.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for reading, review if you want.**

**I'd like to clarify something about my writing style. While I may use first person sometimes, I prefer third person. When I use third person, I will focus the perspective on one character, and the third person "voice" will tend to speak / refer to things in the style and character of that of the character in reference. For example, the first section of this chapter talks about Zion, and the narrative will be in Zion's style. It's why sometimes you see the third person "voice" say things that are kind of strange or seem confused.**

* * *

The Journey to Roild River was longer than Zion thought it was going to be. Flaire had mentioned earlier that it was "not that far away," but to him it seemed like forever! Sure, it had only been about five or six hours, but to him that was a lot of walking. His feet knew it too, as they were ready to just about murder him.

"How much farther?" he asked. Flaire looked annoyed.

"This is like the billionth time you've asked me that! I told you, we're not that far away."

"Fine…why are we going there again?"

"There's a Pokémon I want to meet that stays there," Flaire replied.

"A friend?" Just who could this Pokémon be?

"You'll see. I'll introduce you to him, at least."

Zion thought about this. In the time he had to think on their journey so far, he made the assumption that Flaire wasn't what she seemed to be. He knew that the Breloom and Raichu had called him her "accomplice," which implied that she was a criminal, but he couldn't see how it was possible. For a criminal, she sure was nice. Why would a criminal wake up an unconscious Pokémon they'd never seen or met before?

This led him to the big question.

Was she using him?

He didn't want to think about that. As of now, he had something far more important to worry about; why he randomly woke up as a Pokémon, and why he couldn't remember anything. Would the answers ever come? Would traveling with Flaire help him get the answers?

She didn't even believe him, for one. That would take some time, and some development of trust between the two. While he knew she was a good person, he just wasn't sure if he could trust her entirely. She was hiding things from him, and he knew it. And he knew she knew it, too.

* * *

Flaire was having a hard time concentrating on getting to Roild River. Considering how much she traveled between Pinespeak Forest and Roild River, it was fair that she could sidetrack her thoughts; her body did the guiding almost naturally now.

She was thinking about Zion; his story had made no sense until she really started thinking about it.

It's crazy to think that a human being could just suddenly wake up and find themselves turned into a Zorua, and it was certainly even crazier that they had lost their memory! She could tell that he had some human attributes, such as the fact that he walked awfully strange for a quadruped, and that he had no sense of grooming.

Being a human would certainly explain this, but there was just something odd about the whole thing.

Maybe she could trust him. After all, he did help her out against the two rescuers.

The side of her brain telling her to fully trust the Zorua had one powerful argument; if he was tricking her, why would he do so? She wasn't exactly a famous criminal for the rescue teams to be sending undercover agents after, and she didn't have any personal enemies.

She decided to go for the third option; time. Wait it out. See what happens. Maybe Zion would give away whether he was trustworthy or not himself. Was he keeping anything secret from her? She wouldn't blame him.

* * *

The path Zion and Flaire were walking on was made of dirt, but the area around it was anything but; the plants were strange and unusual, and Zion couldn't even tell If some of it was a plant or a grass type Pokémon!

The last thing he really wanted was a fight, because, to be honest, he didn't exactly know how to do so yet. He didn't even know how to use any moves or anything. All he had was the natural ability to just speedily tackle things, but that didn't exactly cause any harm.

Now was probably the right time to ask Flaire.

"Flaire," Zion started, "how exactly do you use moves?"

Flaire looked at Zion quizzically. "You don't know?"

"In case you didn't remember, I used to be human."

Flaire seemed to consider this. "Alright," she told him. "I'll help you out."

They stopped at a small tree that had apples growing on it. "We can practice on this tree, and if we're lucky we'll get some food out of this."

Zion liked the idea. He could learn how to defend himself, and they would both get food! He was pretty hungry, actually.

Flaire started. "Well, I've never really thought about teaching how to use moves in general to someone. It's just sort of something that comes naturally to us. You know, instinct. I guess what I do is I have this sort of inner flame that I call when I use my fire moves. You're not a fire type so I'm not sure what you have."

"Maybe I have an inner darkness or something?" Zion asked.

"Well, it also depends on the type of move. If I were to use Hex, I wouldn't call my inner flame, I would just sort of bring the energy from…well I'm not really sure. It's hard to explain."

Not the answer Zion was looking for, but it helped a little bit.

"I'll try doing something to this tree." Zion offered. Flaire shrugged and gave the go-ahead.

Zion tried to focus on bringing in his inner-dark energy to use some kind of move, but it was a lot harder than he thought it would be. He wasn't even sure where to start. It didn't just come to him like Flaire said it would.

Eventually he felt some sort of energy building in his throat as he concentrated on one specific part of his body. Was this his inner darkness?

As the energy filled his mouth, he prepared himself to launch it.

_Poof! __**Boom! **_

Only for it to explode in his mouth.

It didn't hurt, but it felt really weird in his mouth. He had to rub his tongue with his paw for a few seconds to try to relieve himself of the discomfort. While this was happening, Flaire was full-on laughing for the first time since they had met.

"Hah! You should have seen the look on your face after that Dark Pulse blew up in your mouth!"

"Shut up…I bet your first Flamethrower was a failure!"

"Actually, it was perfectly done." Flaire responded, pouting.

"Shut up."

Zion decided that that was enough training for now. Flaire eventually was able to show him how to direct some of his dark energy into his mouth so he could at least bite on his targets. It was something, at least. She managed to knock down the apples herself, which gave the pair enough for a quick snack. The apples were delicious, though Zion suspected the taste was amplified by the fact that he was so hungry.

The pair continued to trek to their destination, the Roild River. Eventually they hit a good stopping point, which gave them time to sleep.

Zion's first sleep since he awoke as a Zorua.

They 'set up camp,' which involved Flaire clearing away at some of the grass on the side of the path and putting out the flames. This left a nice soft dirt patch that wasn't too uncomfortable.

Flaire seemed to fall asleep almost instantly, but Zion didn't have this luxury. This led him back to his thoughts.

"_She helped me even more teaching me how to use bite. I really need to trust her more than I am," _Zion thought as he stared into the night sky

"_I bet she doesn't trust me fully yet, but I can't do the same. She's helped me so much; I have to believe in her."_

The thing that was nagging at him from the back of his thoughts was the one thing he feared asking her; her past. Was she a criminal? If so, what did she do? He couldn't just ask say "Flaire, I think you're a criminal!" as this could potentially risk causing her to get angry.

If he was lucky, maybe she would bring it up herself. That would mean, however, that she would have to fully trust him. He knew she didn't, as she didn't even believe he used to be a human.

Hopefully things would work their way out.

With that thought, he drifted to sleep.

* * *

"…"

What was this? Zion was awake again. Must not have been a long sleep…

He noticed something else as well; he was human again.

Was the whole thing just a dream?

That would have been the go-to thought, but he wasn't exactly sure where he was.

"I'm a human, but where am I?"

"…"

"Who's that?" Zion asked, sensing something. "Anybody there?"

"…_**yes…Zion…"**_

"Who said that? Come out!"

"…_**not yet…Zion…"**_

"What?"

* * *

"Hey, wake up! We need to get going!"

"Mom," Zion said groggily, "five more minutes…"

Flaire knew this wasn't going to work. "Alright then, I'll just do this the old fashioned way."

She launched a small fireball at him, which was just enough to wake him up. After calming him down, the two continued on their way.

"Still a Zorua, then…" she heard him say to himself.

Zion was unmistakably a bit quieter than he was the day before, however. This was something Flaire noticed almost immediately.

"What's wrong?" she asked. She didn't like being silent, especially when there was something to discuss. Zion had something on his mind.

"It's nothing."

"Don't lie to me! If you're going to travel with me, you need to start opening up. Tell me what's wrong."

Zion signed, and then gave the answer. He told her about a strange dream in which he was human again, and how there was a weird voice.

"I guess none of that matters," Zion continued, "since you don't even believe I used to be a human."

Now was Flaire's time to make a decision. Did she trust Zion? She chose the answer that seemed obvious after the thought she had put into it.

"Zion. I believe that you used to be human. You don't come across as the lying type to me, and as I said earlier; if we're going to be traveling, we need to open up. I'm going to believe you. Don't make me regret it."

That was all that needed to be said, and Zion smiled for the first time since he had woken up.

"I'm not sure what to make of the dream, though" Flaire clarified. "Maybe this voice will try to contact you again in the future? Unless it was a meaningless dream."

Zion nodded. "Guess I'll have to wait then."

The next thing Zion did was a legitimate surprise. She didn't think he would take it that far.

"Flaire, if we're going to be open to each other, I need to know about something."

Oh god. Not this. Anything but this. This was the last thing Flaire wanted to talk about right now.

"Are you a criminal?"

Damn it.

It was a blunt question, and Flaire decided to give a blunt answer.

"Yes. Although it depends on how you look at it, the short answer is yes."

Zion said nothing as Flaire could tell he was thinking about what to say next, careful not to say the wrong thing.

"What did you do?"

Flaire considered telling Zion that was none of his business, but she didn't want to be a hypocrite. This conversation was going to come up eventually, and she might as well get it over with now. Zion deserved to know.

"Well," she started. "It's not something I like to talk about, but I'll try." Her voice started to mess up, but she stifled the choke. Now was not the time to shirk her words. "Growing up was tough. My mother didn't love me, or wanted me born at all. She tossed me aside when I turned 2 and went on her own."

Zion looked at her sympathetically, and she kept going. "It was hard to live on my own, so I had to resort to stealing. I eventually got good at it, and made a decent living for myself merely stealing from various shops. It helped that Vulpix are a naturally fast species."

Flaire paused to take a breath. "I made the eventual mistake of stealing from the wrong Pokémon, a Tropius, named Ven. Ven was such a nice Pokémon to me even after catching me in the act. He was the first shopkeeper to catch me stealing something from them, and I expected him to give me a harsh punishment, such as sending me to jail."

"Ven realized, however, that I was just a kid trying to live. He helped me… he took care of me, and he did everything for me. He realized that I wasn't evil, but I was just trying to survive. I guess stealing him from him wasn't a mistake, but a blessing"

Zion was puzzled at this part. "I assume you stopped stealing at this point?" Flaire nodded. "Then why are the Rescue Teams or whatever still after you?"

Flaire looked away from Zion. "While Ven believed in me, nobody else did. Everyone thought I was just a Vulpix who enjoyed stealing, so the Rescue Teams continued to come after me. To them, I can't improve. I'm just another thief that needs to be punished. That's why all the Rescue Teams still come after me. Ven knew that I couldn't stay with him as the Rescue Teams would easily just come find me. He told me to go on my own, and that he knew I could make something out of myself if I tried hard enough."

"I promised to stop stealing," she continued, ready to end her speech, "and I haven't since I stole from Ven."

Zion looked overwhelmed, but Flaire could make out one reaction; Zion looked sympathetic. Flaire expected him to look freaked out, but he looked calm and his eyes showed that he felt for her.

"I'm sorry about your past…and I'm sorry that I doubted you."

Flaire smiled. "There's nothing to be sorry about, it's not your fault! I know that I'll be able to prove myself to the Rescue Teams someday, but until then I'll have to resort to escaping them."

Zion had one more question.

"What happened to Ven?"

Before Flaire could respond, the sound of water filled their ears.

Flaire ignored his question and let out of a sigh of relief. "We're here! It's Roild River!"

* * *

**AN - The future chapters may be longer, but for now somewhere near 2-3k words per chapter is my aim. I won't have a schedule for these as I usually just write when I have time, but I estimate the next chapter to be up in a couple days. Thanks for reading!**

**You may have noticed that Zion's Illusion ability is nowhere to be seen! Believe me, that won't be for long.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Enjoy! **

* * *

Roild River, huh. So this was the place. The first thing Zion noticed was that he heard the river but did not see it. Maybe it was farther down? The second thing Zion noticed was how lush the environment was; there were plants galore, green and full of life. Of course, that's expected when you consider the environment surrounding a River.

Flaire's eyes glowed, and she looked as happy as ever. "Finally, I made it here!" she exclaimed. Zion didn't care to correct her usage of "I" to "we."

They trotted for a bit more until they finally found the river itself.

The river was slow-moving, slow enough that Zion found himself compelled to rest his feet in the water. Flaire didn't do the same, but it wasn't too hard to see why.

"Lucky, you get to play in the water," she said.

"Hey, if there was a river made of liquid fighting types, I wouldn't be able to swim in that and you would!" After Flaire's disgusted look, Zion grinned. "I'm just messing around."

Flaire started to look around. "What're you looking for?" Zion asked.

"You'll see." Came the response. Zion decided he could take a swim and did just that. It was pretty hot, so the cool water felt really good on his fur.

When he finally came out, he was soaked.

Flaire, who had watched the entire time, knew what he was going to ask.

"To dry off, just shake your fur."

Zion wasn't really sure how to do this, so he just blindly shook his body, which felt really strange. It worked, though, as all the water slowly flew off of his body. He was still a little wet, but not as much as before.

"We didn't come here just so you could play in the water you know! I'm trying to find someone," Flaire said when he was done.

Zion nodded and the two got to work to find this mysterious person. Zion wasn't really doing any of the looking, as he didn't even know who they were looking for. He simply followed behind Flaire.

Finally, they found the Pokémon they were looking for. It looked like a dinosaur with wings. It had some sort of bananas growing on its neck, and the wings appeared to be blades of grass.

Wait, a Tropius?

Was this Ven?

Any doubt he had was erased when Flaire shouted out. "Ven! It's me, Flaire!"

Ven, who had been resting, instantly got up at the sound of the familiar voice.

"Flaire! It's so nice to see you!" he said. His voice sounded old and strained. The Tropius itself looked old; some of his plant parts looked rather wilted, but other than that he looked fine.

"It seems you've brought somebody with you?" he said.

"Oh? This is Zion, a friend of mine. We recently met in Pinespeak forest."

"Ah," Ven responded. "A travelling companion. Those are always nice. It is my pleasure to meet you, Zion."

Zion smiled. "No, it's my pleasure. Flaire told me about you."

Ven returned the smile, but Flaire had a bit of a frown on her face.

"Ven, I know you messaged me that you were staying in Roild River, but why aren't you setting up shop in the city? You were such a good shopkeeper, and I bet the Pokémon in the city miss you!"

Ven's face turned sad. He looked as if he was reminiscing about his past days. "Ah, I would love to return to my shop. I'm afraid I had to sell it though, money was getting very tight."

Flaire looked sympathetically at her old friend, the one Pokémon who believed in her. Well, now Ven was one of two; she had Zion's trust as well. Zion thought of an idea.

"Why don't we help you get money so you can set your shop up again?" Zion suggested. "It would give us something to do, and it would let you get your shop up again!"

Zion could tell Flaire loved the idea. "Yeah, that's a great idea! We could go into the city and do some quick jobs to make money, and you would be able to set up your shop again!"

Ven smiled, but shook his head. "I thank you for the offer, but that won't be needed. I'm fine, here."

Flaire frowned. "No way! I could tell just from the way you looked at me when I asked why you weren't in the city. You deserve better than this."

Ven considered this. "I see that I won't be able to convince you two otherwise. Alright then, if you two want to do this, then it is your choice. Thank you very much for your help."

Zion was quick to respond. "No problem! Like I said, it gives us something to do as well."

"Wait, but I'm a wanted criminal. I can't just walk into the city, the rescue teams there would come straight after me!"

It was Ven who came up with the answer. "Note every Vulpix is a wanted criminal you know. Just tell people a different name from Flaire. Besides, I doubt every rescue team knows exactly what you look like; to some of them, you'd probably just look like an average Vulpix."

Zion nodded. "We can figure something out."

"Alright then," Flaire said. "Let's get a move on to the city!"

The two said their temporary goodbye to Ven as they began their journey to the city. Flaire told Zion the directions; just follow the river down the East Side, and the city is the first destination they encounter.

"What's this city called anyway?" Zion asked, curious.

"Shunrock City. It's named after a giant stone that the city was built around, called the Shunrock."

_Weird Name for a rock, _Zion thought to himself.

* * *

Calling the 'city' they had arrived at a city was a bit of a stretch. It looked more like a town than anything to Flaire, but that didn't matter. It was Shunrock City. The place was known for its festival based around the Shunrock itself; the rock was said to be a gift from Arceus.

Of course, this year's festival had already passed, so life had resumed to normal for everyone. Flaire saw Pokémon in the streets just going about at their daily lives.

She and Zion were ready.

Before arriving, they had picked out a temporary name for her; Ember. It was pretty generic, but that didn't matter; it was better than using Flaire. The last thing they wanted was anyone to suspect "Ember" to be Flaire. They needed money from doing odd jobs, not a horde of rescue teams on their back.

Flaire was happy that Zion had been so willing to help. In fact, it was his idea in the first place. On the way here, Flaire had asked him why he was so willing to help and Zion had told her it was "A friend of yours is a friend of mine."

As they entered the place, Zion started to look a bit nervous. "This place is huge!" he cried out. Flaire rolled her eyes. It wasn't _that_ big.

Well, for Zion it was probably big because all he had seen in the Pokémon world up to this point was a forest and a river. Flaire gave him the benefit of the doubt.

"Where exactly do we a find a job to do?" Zion asked.

"Well, we aren't a Rescue Team so we can't do official rescue missions, but we can do the help wanted missions." Flaire responded. "They're usually at the Post Office."

"Let's get going then," Zion said.

Flaire didn't think the city was big, but was it confusing or what! There were so many twists and turns in the walkway that she had trouble even finding the town map, let alone the post office. They picked up a Town Map at the "Tourist Reception" building (and a couple of apples to stay full) and still got lost.

"The map says to a take a left turn here," Zion read.

"Uh, you do realize you're holding it upside down, right?"

"No I'm not!"

"Uh-huh. Give me that."

"No way! If you were still the navigator we'd be back at Roild River by now."

"Yeah, and if you were the navigator we'd be on the moon!"

This bickering continued until they finally decided to just ask a Pokémon for directions. The Greninja they asked was even nice enough to lead them there.

As the Greninja left, they went inside the Post Office. It was just as Flaire remembered the last time she had come, bright and open to all. The Pokémon at the desk was a Pelipper, with a satchel around his head. The Pelipper looked like it was bored until it saw the two foxes walking into its office.

"Welcome, welcome!" it said, obviously excited that it had visitors. "How can I help you today?"

Flaire was the one to speak up. "We want to know if you have any help wanted posters?"

"Oh, are you a Rescue Team?" the Pelipper asked.

"No, we're just…uh…"

Thankfully, before the Pelipper got suspicious, Zion spoke up. "We're not a rescue team, we're just trying to help a friend out by making some money, that's all."

The Pelipper smiled. "Doing this for a friend, eh? Sounds good to me. I'll still need your names, though."

"I'm Fla- err, Ember, and this is Zion!" Flaire said. If the Pelipper was any suspicious of the two, he didn't show it. He just looked happy that he had company.

"Alright! Here's our listing, I'll let you two take your time."

The Pelipper handed Flaire the listing, which was just a piece of paper with the name of the Pokémon that wanted help and the description of the job.

There was a lot of choices. Flaire read them out to Zion.

"Need help moving couch up the stairs."

"Need help teaching sons how to be good fathers"

"Need help exploring Sunflare Cave"

"Need help Bibbity Bop Boop Boppity" (Flaire wasn't sure what to think of this one)

After reading several more rather interesting job requests, they finally found one that seemed simple enough yet paid well.

"Could somebody help me find my friend?" Flaire read. Zion was quick to nod.

"Finally, one that doesn't sound insane. Let's do it!"

Reading past the title of the job gave where to contact the job-giver, which happened to be a home not far away. After asking a Jumpluff for help, they found their way to the house.

Zion knocked. "Coming!" a male voice came from inside the house.

The door opened to show a Sylveon at the door. Flaire was rather confused until the Sylveon spoke. "Hello! How can I help you?"

The same male voice that came from inside the house was now coming from the Sylveon.

"Uh…we saw your job request at the Post Office, and we're here to take it!" Zion said, obviously having the same question in his head that Flaire had.

The Sylveon's eyes beamed. "Oh, thank you! Come inside, I'll give you the details. My name is Shawn, by the way."

"I'm Ember, and this is Zion," Flaire said, pointed to herself then Zion.

As Shawn led Zion and Flaire into the house, Zion whispered to Flaire. "How is that Pokémon a male? It has ribbons and bows and stuff and it is super feminine looking!"

Flaire shrugged. "I don't know. I guess it's like how a Mr. Mime can be female; there aren't really gender restrictions on Pokémon species that I know of."

Flaire, to be honest, while surprised, didn't really think much of it after that. She could tell Zion was still a bit weirded out, though. As they came into a large clearing in the house, Shawn smiled at them. "Thank you again for coming," he said.

Zion nodded. "Where is your friend? More importantly though, what is your friend?"

"He's an Avalugg," Shawn said. "We're good friends, so we travel together to various dungeons. We took a trip to Sunflare Cave and got separated. I can't go in there alone to go find him, it's too dangerous. That's why I posted the help wanted job. In fact, I posted that yesterday, so I'm really lucky that you guys answered it today!"

Flaire thought about how some of the job requests must have been sitting there for weeks. Were the Pokémon still lost in the dungeons?

Flaire gave a reassuring look to Shawn. "Don't worry, we'll help get your friend! Avaluggs aren't easy to miss."

Shawn gave them one last look as they walked out of his house. Zion was quick to start asking questions.

"So…what exactly does an Avalugg look like?" he hasked.

Flaire chuckled. "I wasn't kidding when I said they weren't to miss. Think of a glacier with a perfectly flat top. That's an Avalugg. Believe me; you'll know when you see it."

* * *

Getting to Sunflare cave was easy. Getting inside? Not so much. Even Flaire wasn't sure how to do it. Zion was pretty worried after hearing this. The problem was obvious; there was no clear entrance. How could you possibly get inside a cave if there was no clear entrance into the cave?

After some searching around the place, they finally found something; a sign. The sign read, "Warning: anyone that is not a part of a rescue team MUST bring an escape rope if they want to get out! The entrance is at the top."

What? The entrance was at the top?

Zion was perplexed. How exactly was one to get to the top of a cave? And what did they do when they got there, jump in?

First thing's first, though.

"Flaire, do we have an escape rope?"

Flaire nodded. "Yeah, we have one. I always keep one with me just in case," she said, tapping the satchel she had on her back.

"Alright then. How do we get to the top of this thing?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Flaire said. "We climb!"

_I've only been in this body for less than two days, and I'm already climbing mountains. _Zion thought.

_Just great._

* * *

**Spring break! I'll have more time to write.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks for reading! **

**Thought I would be able to write during Spring Break, apparently not :(**

* * *

Trekking up to the top of the cave wasn't as hard as Zion thought it would be. In fact, it was remarkably easy.

The cave was angled in such a way that it was almost like climbing up stairs; the incline was not too harsh.

The climb wasn't even long; it took about five minutes. So much for the painfully difficult climb he had expected upon hearing that the cave entrance was at the top.

Upon arriving to the top of the cave, a more legitimate problem approached them; how to get inside. They couldn't exactly fall inside.

"Maybe we could climb down with the escape rope?" Flaire suggested.

The hole to enter the cave was about ten feet in diameter. It was easily big enough for them to go through, so that wasn't a problem.

There was nothing to tie the escape rope onto, so Zion held one end in his mouth as Flaire climbed down. The hard part came now; how exactly did Zion get down?

"Why don't you just jump?" Flaire asked. "I'll catch you!"

Zion didn't like that idea. As fluffy as Flaire seemed, there were some rather…obvious flaws with the idea. What if Flaire didn't catch him?

Ouch.

He trusted her, he knew that.

"Uh…I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"Oh come on!" Flaire replied. "I'm good at catching things."

Not seeing another solution, Zion went for it.

He jumped.

And he landed.

Directly on top of Flaire.

It was a cushioned landing, but it still hurt. Nothing he couldn't just shake off though.

"Thanks," Zion said.

According to what Flaire said on their way there, getting inside of the cave was the hardest supposed to be the hardest part. Finding the Avalugg couldn't possibly be that challenging. The top of their body is perfectly flat, head included. Not easy to miss.

Something else that made their job easier was just how easy the cave was the traverse. Flaire wasn't kidding. Compared to their trip from Pinespeak to Roild, this was a breeze.

There was a suspicious lack of Pokémon, though. Flaire had said that in caves, forests, or other 'dungeons', wild Pokémon (aptly enough called Wilds) would attack for seemingly no reason.

Finally, after about ten minutes of walking through the cave, something interesting happened. A wild Torchic appeared in front of the duo, with an angry expression visible in its eyes.

It was wild, and wanted to attack.

"Why do Pokémon just randomly attack again?" Zion asked as he dodged an ember attack.

"It's either territory, hunger," Flaire responded, dodging a head-butt from the Torchic, "or just because they want to."

Zion retaliated with a bite on the head, something he more or less perfected. The Torchic was quick to fall.

"Why are Wilds so…frail? It's as if the weakest of civilized Pokémon can withstand more than even the stronger Wilds!" Zion observed.

"I'm not exactly sure about that one," Flaire admitted. "It's probably to do with how reckless they fight. They don't really use strategy; they just sort of let out attacks at random."

It seemed as if the pair had hit a hot-spot in wild Pokémon at the cave; next thing they knew Pokémon were leaping out left and right. It was predominantly Fire and Rock types. Zion dealt with the Rock types, seeing that his dark moves had neutral impact rather than Flaire's fire moves which did little to no damage.

Geodude after Geodude, Roggenrolla after Roggenrolla came from out of nowhere, constantly! Zion could feel his bite attack grow weaker and weaker after constant use. While it only took a few seconds of munching the rock types to knock them out, the sheer number made his teeth and mouth feel extremely sore.

Zion saw that Flaire was having the same problem. Flaire actually had experience being a Pokémon unlike Zion, which meant her move-pool was a bit more diverse. She hit the incoming Torchics and even a herd of Ponyta with powerful Feint Attacks, even mixing in her fire type moves. While they did less damage to fire types, they were useful for finishing off weakened ones, and saving the energy of her Feint Attack.

After what seemed like an hour of battling off weak Wilds, they finally were able to find a clearing. There didn't seem to be any Wilds nearby, so the duo set up temporary camp.

"You said this was going to be easy!" Zion complained.

Flaire shrugged. "Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. I didn't know there were going to be THAT many Pokémon we had to deal with."

Zion groaned, which caused his already sore mouth to hurt even more. It took all his willpower to resist groaning again.

"I really need to learn a new move," Zion said. "Bite isn't getting me anywhere. I'm pretty sure I've lost a few teeth in that fight…"

"I might be able to teach you something now that you have some experience battling. Let's see, what can a Zorua learn that I know how to use? I know! How about Incinerate?"

Zion perked up. The name sounded cool, at least. "What's that?"

"It's a fire type move I know. I remember hearing that many different Pokémon could learn it, so I don't doubt that you could, too!"

"Alright," Zion said. "Where do we start?"

* * *

By the time she had finished teaching Zion how to use Incinerate, she was exhausted. Surprisingly enough, unlike their earlier training session, Zion was quick to pick up on the move.

She taught him how every Pokémon that could learn a fire type move had an inner flame of sorts, and that they could utilize it to pull off a fire type attack. Zion was confused at first, but quickly figured it out. While the incinerates that she saw weren't the most amazing, she could tell with some practice he could easily master the move.

She didn't tell him the side effect of the move though. He could figure that out on his own.

At this point, Flaire had no doubt that Zion used to be human. Not a single part of her brain had any doubts.

For one thing, he still walked really strangely. He leaned forward a bit more than usual, although it wasn't noticeable unless you were looking for it. Secondly, his lack of knowledge about things that were even the most obvious information for any Pokémon seemed to be complete mystery for Zion. For example, he didn't know that the go-to hospital from town to town was Blissey's Medical Center, something that every Pokémon knew, minus the Wilds.

Searching for this Avalugg was going nowhere. The cave's layout was confusing, as in there was no set path to take. The whole place was a giant open space, meaning there were little to no walls, and they weren't sure where to turn or anything.

Finally, Zion found the closest thing to the Avalugg that they had found all day; footprints.

Flaire confirmed to Zion that they were Avalugg footprints. Footprints in general were one of Flaire's specialties; she considered herself generally knowledgeable and footprints were something she knew like the back of her paw. To pass the time as a kit, she would read "The Encyclopedia of Pokémon Footprints," a book that she stole from a library.

"I guess we follow these tracks, then!" Zion suggested. Flaire nodded. It was go-time. They were finally getting somewhere!

The open space of the cave made following the tracks a lot easier. They could just end up looking ahead at where the tracks leaded, instead of having to meticulously follow each footprint individually. As they continued to follow the footprints, the openness of the cave started to disappear. The walls started to converge, though there was enough space for a large Pokémon to go through.

The cave was funnel shaped. It was one of its distinct features. Unfortunately, the skinny part of the cave lead to a dead-end, which meant they had to use an escape rope to get out.

_I guess it's only logical that the guy got lost in the skinny part of the cave, _Flaire thought to herself.

_At least it makes it a little easier to find him._

A few minutes after she finished explaining to Zion the funnel shape of the cave, the tracks stopped.

Right in front of the dead end of the cave.

Flaire cursed in her breath.

"Uh, how did the tracks and cave stop at the same place. If this dumb Avalugg turned around wouldn't we see that in his footprints?" Zion asked. It was a good question, one that Flaire had no answer to.

"I'm not sure," she responded.

"That's really weird…"

"Hey! Up here!"

Flaire and Zion shot their eyes upwards to find, to their surprise, an Avalugg floating in midair.

"Think you could help me out real quick?" The Avalugg said.

"I think that's the guy!" Zion exclaimed.

"Come on, please help me out!" The Avalugg cried. "I don't want to die up here! I'm too young to die! I want to live! I want to go on adventures! I'm too young to die here! I can't just die here like that! Please help me down; I'm going to die if you don't! Please help-"

"SHUT UP!" Flaire shouted at the top of her lungs. "WE'LL HELP YOU DOWN, JUST SHUT UP!"

The Avalugg was quick to oblige.

"How are you floating up there anyway?" Zion asked.

"I'm not floating; I'm stuck in a web!"

"How on earth did you get stuck in a web?" asked Flaire. Here was a giant Avalugg, an icy beast, stuck helplessly in a web. It was hard to see, but after the Avalugg pointed it out she could notice the outlines of a spider web.

"Well, there was a trap here somebody set and I stepped into it by accident and then I was pulled up right into this trap and I'm going to die and please help me and I don't want-"

"Ok! Don't worry, we'll get you down. Right Zion?" Flaire said.

"Of course!" He responded, pumped up.

_Wait a moment… _Flaire thought. _If that's a spider web, then that means there are spider Pokémon nearby!_

"Zion," Flaire whispered. "These spider webs might belong to somebody. That somebody might be really strong, considering their web is enough to hold up an Avalugg."

Zion nodded. "They're also probably really clever," he added. "The fact that they came up with the trap idea shows something."

"What type of spider Pokémon, though?" Flaire asked.

"What's going on here? What are you Pokémon doing near our web!" a voice came from behind the duo. "Trespassers are not welcome!"

A closer look revealed the voice to belong to a Galvantula. It was male, but it was high-pitched at the same time.

"Get out of here, children! We don't like loiterers hanging around our web!"

This voice was female, and came from an Ariados. The two Spider Pokémon crawled out.

Flaire was about to mention that she wasn't a kid, but there were more pressing matters on hand.

"No way!" Flaire retaliated. "Your web here caught this Avalugg, and we were asked to bring him back."

The Galvantula ignored her question. "Oooh, an Avalugg! I haven't eaten one of those, ever! I heard they taste like Ice Cream!"

Zion looked stunned. "What? That's disgusting!" he said. Flaire couldn't help but smirk at that one.

The Ariados gave a look of disapproval. "What, you've never seen a Pokémon eat another Pokémon before? Also, there is no way you're going to be able to rescue that dumb Avalugg. He walked into our trap fair and square!"

"Nope. We're rescuing him, regardless of what you say!" Zion retorted. The look on his face was pure determination.

"Um, do I have a say in whether I get eaten or not? Because I don't want to die! I want to live! I just want to not die! I want-"

"SHUT UP!" the other four Pokémon all said at once.

The Galvantula looked mad. "Well, I normally wouldn't waste my time with some kids over a meal, but Avalugg's are a super rare capture! Most of them would just break away, but this one is just weak enough for our webs!"

_Oh. These weren't strong webs, just a weak Avalugg. _Flaire noted.

The Galvantula launched a web out of its mouth, which flew straight past Flaire and into Zion. Flaire heard a crackling sound as Zion cringed in pain.

"How do you like my electroweb!" the Galvantula exclaimed. "One of my specialties as an electric type."

"I can't break free of this stupid thing," Zion said. "Flaire, think you could burn it off?"

Flaire obliged, launching a weak fireball which destroyed the web. With regained mobility, Zion lunged at the Galvantula and proceeded to spar him at close range, biting it when he could.

Flaire focused her attention on the Ariados.

"Think you can take me?" the Ariados asked. "You might be a fire type, but I have a few tricks up my own sleeve!"

The Ariados shot out a gunk of poison, which Flaire easily dodged. Unfortunately, she dodged right into another gunk of poison.

The poison didn't immediately hurt, but it did make Flaire feel sick.

Toxic.

Toxic was one of the most effective poison type moves. Unlike normal poison, the longer a Pokémon was poisoned by toxic, the more damage they took.

At first, the toxic effect barely hurt Flaire. She knew, however, that as the fight was prolonged, the toxic damage would stack up. She needed to end this fast. They had no Pecha Berries with them.

She quickly, glanced over to Zion, and saw him biting onto the Galvantula's legs, but the Galvantula would simply shock Zion in return.

This fight was going nowhere, fast.

Flaire launched a flamethrower attack at the Ariados, who was quick to dodge. The Ariados launched another toxic sludge attack, missing Flaire by a few inches.

The Ariados decided to mix up its strategy. It shot multiple webs, surrounded Flaire.

Flaire did her best to burn away these webs, but for every web she burned, three more would take their place.

"This strategy never fails!" the Ariados boasted.

Flaire grunted in annoyance. This Ariados knew how to get on her nerves. She dodged another pile of sludge sent her way. Due to the mass number of webs surrounding her, however, she fell straight into a web! Her feet were stuck, and she was unable to move.

"Time for my signature attack!" The Ariados shot a light purple poison at Flaire, who was unable to avoid it. The attack looked weak, but as it touched Flaire, it stung. Her skin felt like it was on fire, ignoring the fact that she was a fire type.

Seeing her groans of pain, the Ariados smiled.

"Do you like my Venoshock attack? It's normally weak but its effectiveness is multiplied against a poisoned target! You're as good as done for!"

Flaire groaned once more. This wasn't going well. She didn't even have time to think about how Zion was doing. Her consciousness ebbed away as the Toxic's damage continued to stack up. She saw one more Venoshock before her vision went completely black.

* * *

**I should have an excuse for why this is so late but whatever.**


	5. Chapter 5

Needless to say, they were screwed.

Zion's fight with the Galvantula was starting to seem super one-sided. For one thing, the bug type's bug type attacks did super effective damage to Zion because he was a dark type.

For another thing, Zion just plain sucked at fighting.

He made the assumption right then and there that human him probably was the greatest pacifist, as he didn't have a single knack for fighting. It was pitiful to watch him try to dance around his opponent, and end up walking into every Thundershock and Signal Beam launched his way.

At least he was still conscious.

"Why won't you get knocked out!" the Galvantula yelled at him. "You should be dead by now if anything!"

It was pretty strange how he did manage to stay standing. Maybe it had something to do with him being a human? Did he get increased stamina?

Zion decided to unleash his 'secret weapon'; his one move that was super effective against the Galvantula.

"Take this!" he yelled. His mouth turned hot as he charged his inner flame as Flaire had taught him how to do. He unleashed the small fireball from his mouth. The Galvantula, unprepared for the attack took the blow headfirst. It cringed in pain from the powerful attack.

"Of course a stupid dark type like you would happen to know a fire type move…" The Galvantula complained. "That's no problem! You're as good as done for, just like your Vulpix friend!"

Wait what? Flaire was knocked out? A quick glance at the fight between Flaire and the Ariados confirmed the Galvantula's claim.

_Flaire lost? That must have been one powerful Ariados if it managed to take down a fire type. How am I going to take down both of these spiders?_ Zion thought to himself.

_I need a miracle to pull this off._

A miracle came. From the ceiling to be specific.

The Avalugg crashed down from above, landing on top of the Galvantula.

"Ouch!" The Avalugg exclaimed.

Zorua couldn't help but bring up the stupidestly large smile on his face. The Galvantula was knocked out cold.

"I'm so sorry to get in your way! I don't want to die…" the Avalugg croaked.

Zion chuckled. "No problem, big guy! Let's take down this Ariados!"

"No!" the Avalugg replied. "I'm too scared. She's going to eat me. I don't want to die!"

Zion had a plethora of mixed emotions upon hearing this. For one thing, he was glad that the Avalugg had single-handedly taken out one of Zion's opponents; on the other hand, the ice behemoth was a coward! It didn't know its own strength! It might have been weak relative to other Avalugg but that didn't mean much. It was crazy strong compared to the puny Ariados.

It wouldn't fight because it was afraid. That was pretty lame.

Zion was mad afraid. But he wouldn't chicken out of the fight. The Avalugg was trapped because it was afraid. It was silly to expect him to actually help in the fight against the Ariados. It didn't even seem to realize it had just crushed the Galvantula.

"Hey, eight legs! Over here!" Zion called out to the Ariados.

"What did you call me? Why you little…"

Zion's plan to make the Ariados mad worked a bit. He hadn't anticipated the powerful web to come out at the speed it did, and the next thing he knew Zion was stuck to a wall.

The Ariados just then noticed what happened to its mate.

It was not happy.

"Your stupid Vulpix friend was a fire type and couldn't beat me. You're a dark type! What chance do you have! You might have gotten my mate with sheer luck, but you're as good as dead now!"

The Ariados took one step closer.

"What chance do you have of defeating me?"

Another step closer.

"None."

Another step closer.

"Absolutely None."

To think, just a few days ago he would have probably been in his human room, taking a nap or something.

Now, he was on the receiving end of a mutant spider.

Ready to knock him unconscious. Or kill him.

Another step closer.

"But…" the Ariados started. "I don't want to kill you."

Zion stopped breathing, just for a moment.

"I don't want to kill you, no. Never before have I seen prey with such…motivation as you two fools. Why did you come? To save this Avalugg that you seem to have never met before in your lives?"

The Ariados paused. Zion released his breath.

"My mate is not a bright fellow. He would not be able to make this conversation with you. He would have eaten you. I must know however, why are you trying to save this Avalugg?"

Zion decided now was now the time to make up lies.

"We're saving him to get enough money to help a friend who's in need."

The Ariados chuckled. "As I expected. You aren't doing it out of the good of your heart. You're doing it to help your own friends. Usual."

Zion hesitated. He didn't trust the Ariados at all. She could easily knock him out at any second.

The attack never came. Both Zion and the Ariados stared at each other for about a minute.

The Ariados was the one to break the silence. "Alright," she said. "I'm going to let you three go on the condition that you do not return to interfere. Since this Avalugg apparently had somebody ask for its return, it would be rude to eat it. I'm sure the Pokémon is still waiting for it to come back. I will eat other prey. Go. Before I change my mind."

The Ariados tugged on its mate, the fallen Galvantula, and slowly crept out of view. Into the darkness.

Zion shuddered. He had one gaping question.

What if the next Pokémon that came into the Ariados' clutches also had a Pokémon waiting for it? What if there was no one to save it? Would it be eaten?

Why did the Ariados let him go? Zion was still tense, ready for the Ariados to come back at any moment, and say "Just kidding!" and knock him out.

He stayed still for an entire minute before he realized it was time to go. It was time to go before anything else happened.

* * *

"Get up, Flaire."

Flaire heard a soft voice tugging her to wake up. She didn't want to, of course. It was peaceful to just sleep, without a care in the world.

Unfortunately, she had plenty of things to care about in the world.

"Flaire, get up. I know you're awake."

The voice was Zion's.

Almost immediately Flaire remembered all that happened. The Avalugg! The Ariados! She had fought the Ariados and…lost. She rarely lost fights. She would either escape before the fight got hard with her agility or just win the fight all-out.

She had lost this one, though.

Had Zion won?

The Galvantula and Ariados were nowhere in sight. Zion looked like he had just woken up from a nightmare.

He was shivering as he prodded Flaire, trying to wake her up.

She was awake now. "Alright, alright. I'm awake. What happened? Did you defeat them?"

Flaire also noticed the Avalugg, either sleeping or unconscious next to Zion. They would have to get him up after they were done discussing what just happened.

"She let us go," Zion replied.

"What? The Ariados let you go?"

Zion nodded. "There's no way I could have beat her. I was weak from the Galvantula, and the Ariados managed to defeat you, despite a type disadvantage. She simply let us go."

"Why?" Flaire had to ask.

Zion looked away. "She said that if someone was waiting for the Avalugg, she couldn't kill him. It was almost as if she pitied him. The Sylveon, not the Avalugg."

Flaire was confused. Why would she let him go? The reason Zion gave her made no sense.

Zion almost seemed to sense the confusion and turned back to Flaire.

"I was thinking about it," he said. "and I think she let us go because she didn't want the Pokémon who was waiting for him to feel pain for losing a friend when it wasn't even his fault. If it was just the Avalugg without a family, she would have gladly eaten all of us, but she let us go because the Avalugg had a friend waiting for him."

Zion's answer just confused Flaire even more.

Zion suddenly smiled. "Well, that sounded way better in my head. I guess we won't know why the Ariados let us go unless we ask her again."

Flaire chuckled. "No way! I'm not going to even think about spiders for a few decades!"

Flaire and Zion took the next few minutes to try to wake up the Avalugg. It was a lot harder than they it would be. The Avalugg slept like a rock.

Finally, it stirred. Upon waking up and noticing that the spiders were gone, it couldn't have been happier.

"Oh, thank you thank you thank you! I thought I was going to die but I'm alive! Thank you! Shawn will be so happy!"

Shawn. The reason they were alive. At least, if Zion's theory was correct. Flaire wasn't too sure.

"No problem! Let's get out of here."

* * *

They arrived at the City. Getting out of the cave was supposed to be really hard, but really all Zion and Flaire had to do was use the escape rope and climb out. It was a bit tricky to get the Avalugg out, but they managed a pulley system.

Upon reaching the residency of Shawn and the Avalugg, the Avalugg almost broke into tears.

"Oh, oh its Shawn! He'll be so happy to see me, oh! I'll be so happy to see him too! We're the best of friends, oh thank you!"

Zion smirked. The Avalugg was still talking in its strange way of repeating every word and saying "Thank you!" every other syllable.

After they went inside the house, Shawn was ecstatic.

"Avalugg!" he cried out as he gave a big hug to his friend. Zion had to wonder if the Shawn was chilled out, considering he was really just hugging a sentient ice block. Shawn's "flame of affection" as Flaire later called it seemed to have completely ignored the cold. It was a sight that made Zion smile.

"I hope it wasn't too hard for you to rescue good ol' Marco here!"

Marco. They risked their lives rescuing someone they didn't even know the name of.

In a way, by rescuing Marco, they had also rescued Ven. Was it really worth it, risking your life just to help a friend?

Shawn gave Zion a whopping 70,000 poke as thanks for saving his best friend.

Even though Zion hadn't been a Pokémon for long, he knew that was a LOT of money.

As they left the house, Flaire and Zion high-fived. Or at least, they did the best they could being quadrupeds with paws.

"That was a messed up day." Flaire said. They started their trek back to the river to meet up with Ven again.

Zion couldn't help but agree. "You said it."

* * *

AN – I've left a few things confusing on purpose. They'll be cleared up, don't worry. I also want to apologize for the delay in updates, I kinda decided to reread the Animorphs. I might actually do an Animorphs fanfic eventually, maybe a crossover?


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